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M.I.S.S.I.O.N.
M.I.S.S.I.O.N. is a 2005 American computer-animated spy action film produced by Universal Feature Animation for Universal Pictures. The eighth animated feature in the Universal Animated Features canon, it was directed by Steve Samono and Ash Brannon from a screenplay by Michael Wildshill and Joe Stillman and a story by Samono, and stars the voices of Zach Tyler Eisen, Gary LeRoi Gray, Avril Lavigne, Stanley Tucci, Wally Kurth, and Patrick Warburton. The film follows middle school student Louis DeMinsky, who is recruited along with his fellow academic adepts Mort Soberman and Tiana Croson into a secret agency based underneath the school grounds. Their assignment is to battle an out-of-control geological terrorist organization who plans to use their technology to scramble the Earth's continents. The film was released in the United States on July 1, 2005 and received negative reviews from critics, while grossing $293 million worldwide on its $78 million budget, the film underperformed at the box office, forcing a writedown of $57.3 million for Universal. Critics panned the film's script, rude humor, characters, performances, and runtime, while praising the visual effects, action scenes, score, and the performances of Zach Tyler Eisen and Avril Lavigne. The film won three Golden Raspberry Awards at the 25th Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony and became the highest-grossing animated film to win the Worst Picture award. Plot A laser beam is shot from somewhere in space into a lake near the Michigan city of Heavesboro. Louis DeMinsky heads to the docks by skateboard to witness the event, but then rushes back at top speed as the beam causes an earthquake to split the city into fractions. He returns to his new hometown in Whitevale in time for his first day at Elstree Middle School. 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Voice cast * Zach Tyler Eisen as Louis DeMinsky, a 12-year-old "one-of-a-kind" student who is the main member of M.I.S.S.I.O.N. * Gary LeRoi Gray as Mort Soberman, the second-in-command member of M.I.S.S.I.O.N. who is Louis' best friend. * Avril Lavigne as Tiana Croson, the tomboyish third-in-command member of M.I.S.S.I.O.N. who masters martial arts. * Stanley Tucci as Clariborn Holmes, the commanding officer of M.I.S.S.I.O.N. and the former principal of Elstree Middle School. * Wally Kurth as Macksey Skee, the boss of the S.C.H.E.M.E. organization. * Patrick Warburton as Biggie-B, a member of the S.C.H.E.M.E. organization. * Caroline Dhavernas as Laura DeMinsky, Louis's 8-year-old sister. * Laraine Newman as Mrs. DeMinsky, Louis's mother. * Bob Bergen as Mr. DeMinsky, Louis's father. * Lauren Tom as Mrs. Teckleski, Louis's teacher. * Danny Mann as Wilbert Rluck, the current principal of Elstree Middle School. * Zack Shada as Johnathan. * Connor Price as Robby McRobbs. * Jim Anderson as News Reporter. * Thomas Derviom as Police Officer #1. * Michael Wildshill as Police Officer #2. * Amy McNeill as the English teacher. * John France as one of Skee's minions. * Steve Samono as Nick. * Ash Brannon as a security guard. Additional voices * Carlos Alazraqui * Jack Angel * Susan Blu * Ash Brannon * Rodger Bumpass * Jane Carr * John Cygan * Jennifer Darling * Paul Eiding * Bill Farmer * Jessie Flower * Aaron Fors * Gary Hall * Jess Harnell * Sherry Lynn * Mickie McGowan * Alec Medlock * Phil Proctor * Jan Rabson * Daryl Sabara * Evan Sabara * Steve Samono * Mindy Sterling * Joe Stillman * Jim Ward Production Steve Samono first began working on the story for what became M.I.S.S.I.O.N. about 11 years prior to its release, then directed the film's development from 1997 to 2003. In August 1998, Universal Feature Animation announced the film as Agent Junior, as a traditionally animated feature scheduled for a 2002 release, which Samono described as a "James Bond-like" film that revolved around an entirely different concept. In May 2000, Agent Junior was pushed back to a holiday 2004 release in order to give Samono "more time to work on the story." By June 2001, the film was retitled Operation School and it was announced that the film would be instead a computer animated feature film. In 2002, the film's title was changed once again, this time as M.I.S.S.I.O.N.. Production began in early 2003, and the release date was pushed back to summer 2005. Release M.I.S.S.I.O.N. was originally scheduled to be released on June 17, 2005, but on December 10, 2004, its release date was moved up two weeks later on July 1, 2005, the release date that was originally slated for Disney's Chicken Little, which was later released on November 4, 2005. The Perfect Man, another film from Universal Pictures, was given the slot of June 17, 2005. Marketing Coinciding with the film's release, Burger King released eight toys in their Kids' Meals. A video game adaptation was released on the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, and on the Nintendo DS. Trailers * A teaser trailer was released on November 5, 2004, and was shown before The Incredibles, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Zina and the Vivid Crew, and Fat Albert. * The official trailer was released on March 4, 2005, and was shown before The Pacifier, Robots, Ice Princess, Tj's World: The Movie, Kim Possible Movie: So The Drama, and Madagascar. * TV spots began to air between June and July of 2005. Home media M.I.S.S.I.O.N. was released on VHS and DVD on December 13, 2005. The film was released on Blu-ray and HD DVD on January 23, 2007 and contained new features not included on the DVD. A 3D Blu-ray version was released on January 22, 2013. Soundtrack On June 28, 2005, the M.I.S.S.I.O.N.: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack ''soundtrack was released by Varèse Sarabande. Harry Gregson-Williams composed the film's score. Reception Box office ''M.I.S.S.I.O.N. earned $73,174,721 in the United States and $220,100,201 from international markets for a worldwide total of $293,274,922. Despite grossing $293.2 million over its $78 million budget, the film was deemed a box office failure due to high marketing costs of $100–150 million and falling short of the break even point of $400 million. Co-director Ash Brannon attributed the film's underperformance to poor audience reactions and releasing it on the same day as War of the Worlds ''which was more hyped up. ''M.I.S.S.I.O.N. opened on July 1, 2005 against Rebound and War of the Worlds. The film was projected to gross $45–50 million from 3,654 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $1.2 million from Thursday night previews and $7.2 million on its opening day. Universal Feature Animation CEO Michael Wildshill called these results terribly panned. Critical reception According to the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 16% based on 244 reviews and an average rating of 3.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "M.I.S.S.I.O.N. is a noisy, underplotted, and overlong special effects extravaganza that lacks a human touch." On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 24 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a "B+". Accolades M.I.S.S.I.O.N. was among the films shortlisted for the Best Visual Effects at the 82nd Academy Awards, but was only nominated for Best Sound Mixing (Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson), eventually losing to King Kong. M.I.S.S.I.O.N. was also nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film but lost to Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge of the Sith, Satellite Awards for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound, a VES Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture, and a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble. The film was nominated for a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Animated, but lost to Madagascar. It was nominated for seven Razzie Awards including Worst Actress for Avril Lavigne, Worst Screen Couple and Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel, winning three in the Worst Picture, Worst Director, and Worst Screenplay categories at the 25th Golden Raspberry Awards.